The lack and/or loss of stable and supportive parenting places children at risk for the development of mental health problems. Psychological risk for the child is compounded when the reasons for inadequate parenting are themselves indicative of psychological problems of the parents. The purpose of the study is to identify psychological consequences for these children whose mothers are imprisoned. The relations between mother and child, attitudes toward self, mood and emotional states, and the child's interpersonal relations with peers and adult authority figures studied. Research participants are 40 incarcerated mothers and their children, and equal numbers of mothers and children from single-parented families in the community. The groups are comparable racially (Black) and socio-economially. Data are obtained in four settings: mother groups, caretaker settings, mother-child interaction with their children, and experimental child groups. Secondary data are obtained from school records.